For centuries, stockings or socks have been used to provide comfort and warmth and protect the feet from cracking, dryness, chafing, or general damage that can result from continually rubbing up against one's footwear or, if barefoot, the surrounding environment. More recently, sock entrepreneurs have especially begun focusing on the comfort aspect of sock wearing, for example designing thinner socks that allow for greater airflow or thicker socks that provide greater padding. Thicker socks often employ terry loops to provide greater moisture absorption in addition to increased cushioning. Some prior art has employed terry loops only in particular areas of the sock or simply with greater density in those areas so as to soften the impact of the foot as it makes contact with the ground while walking or otherwise mobile on foot. Prior art has taken this approach with many areas of the foot, including the Achilles tendon, sole, heel, and toes, but seldom the arch or the arch side of the foot. Yet among the enumerated, the arch is of great importance.
The arch region principally resides in the inner-middle part of each foot and is predominately comprised of or reliant on the tarsal and metatarsal bone set and various tendons and ligaments to support the weight of the entire human body when erect. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the arch undergoes immense strain and pressure, which can become quite problematic for a person, especially when the arch is not being supported sufficiently by socks or footwear. But despite its importance, the prior art neglect to solely provide support for the arch (inner) side of the foot. Moreover, the prior art emphasizes cushioning to the exclusion of structural support, an important distinction with even more important consequences. While cushioning may ameliorate pain associated with walking or running, structural deficiencies are all but ignored and untreated.
Thus, persons with, for example, plantar fasciitis or low or flat foot arches, would likely make very limited improvement by wearing cushioning socks, but could greatly benefit from socks with improved arch regions in light of the problems presented by the prior art. Hence, there is a need in the art for an arch-supporting sock, which reduces pain and strain in the arch regions of the feet and reinforces proper curvature of the arch, whereby other areas important for standing and mobility such as the heel or lower leg are positively impacted as well.
Similarly, the prior art inadequately addresses providing for improved structural support to the ankle and or the Achilles tendon of the foot of the wearer. While the prior art includes several structures such as pads, pockets with padded inserts, and cushioning layers that cover these regions of the foot, these prior art structures either improperly support these regions, comprise of components too cumbersome for easy manufacturing, or simply do not provide adequate support.
Therefore, the present invention seeks to address the inadequacies and shortcomings of the prior art, by providing a sock with one or more support assemblages, which provides additional structural support and stability to different regions of the foot.
It is to these ends that the present invention has been developed.